Arch Hurd - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Arch Hurd is an operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

based on Arch Linux

Arch Linux

Arch Linux is an independently developed, Linux-based operating system for i686 and x86-64 computers. It is composed predominantly of free and open source software, and supports community involvement....

, but uses GNU Hurd

GNU Hurd

GNU Hurd is a free software Unix-like replacement for the Unix kernel, released under the GNU General Public License. It has been under development since 1990 by the GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation...

kernel

Kernel (computing)

In computing, the kernel is the main component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources...

instead of Linux

Linux kernel

The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....

.

The Arch Hurd project was founded on an Arch Linux forum thread and, after a few weeks with many contributions, progressed to the point where it could boot in a virtual machine. It aims to provide an Arch-like user environment

User interface

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

(BSD-style init scripts, i686-optimised packages, use of the pacman package manager, rolling-release

Rolling release

In software development, a rolling release development model refers to a continuously developing software system; this is opposed to a standard release development model which uses software versions that must be reinstalled over the previous version...

, and a KISS

KISS principle

KISS is an acronym for the design principle Keep it simple, Stupid!. Other variations include "keep it simple and stupid", "keep it short and simple", "keep it simple sir", "keep it simple or be stupid" or "keep it simple and straightforward"...

set up) on the Hurd which is stable enough for use.

Despite having a small development team, much progress has been made since its founding, such as booting on real hardware, packaging everything for a basic web server, and the production of an unofficial graphical LiveCD.

See also